Vending machines (or, equivalently, “merchandising systems”) are often employed to deliver food, such as sandwiches, fruit or other items, in environments having limited access to alternative food service establishments or not warranting the expense of one or more food service attendants, either continually or during “off-peak” periods. Such environments include sites too remote from off-site food service establishments or work environments in which different shifts (e.g., a night shift) coincide with periods of limited availability of open food service establishments.
Some vending machines employ a vertical barrel or drum containing a number of essentially circular horizontal trays for holding food products, all maintained at the same temperature. The potential customer is generally able to rotate the drum to view various products. After payment and item selection, the customer is allowed access only to the item selected through a vend door located at the appropriate layer.
Drum-type vending machines are typically limited to only about three zones (e.g., horizontal levels) or less, and normally do not permit differentiation of price for product within a given zone. Thus, for example, all items on a given level must typically be sold for the same price. Conventional drum-type vending machines thus lack adaptability in offering different types of food products and in accepting price programming for different items within a given zone. These constraints limit the amount and type of products that a vendor may place in a single machine, and may require the vendor to operate multiple machines at a given site, decreasing customer selection while increasing operating costs.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for improved flexibility of product placement and pricing for drum-type vending machines.